Adelaide Lisetta Fries - Forsyth : the history of a county on the march

ADELAIDE FRIES

STUART THURMAN WRIGHT

J. EDWIN HENDRICKS

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

PAGES 4549

PAGES 117120

PAGES 173176

PAGES 277281

JAMES A. GRAY, JR., chairman of the Forsyth County Centennial Committee, said in his foreword to the 1949 edition of Forsyth, A County on the March, Dr. Adelaide Fries and her able associates in the writing of this book not only have given us an accurate history of our County but also have captured magnificently the energy of its founders, the surge of its new blood, and the cooperative spirit of its people.

Twenty-five years later, as the nation prepared to celebrate its bicentennial, it seemed appropriate to revise and expand the county history, long out of print. Under the leadership of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Bicentennial Commissions co-chairmen, M. C. Benton, Jr., and Mrs. John Eller, Jr., a publications committee was formed with Dr. J. Edwin Hendricks of Wake Forest University as chairman, and set about its task. James A. Gray, Jr., Charles N. Siewers, and Mrs. Z. T. Bynum, Jr., who contributed to the 1949 volume, agreed to assist in the updating and have been most helpful. Dr. Francis Atkins and Mrs. Louise S. Hamilton were asked to represent the black community. John Woodard brought his knowledge of archives and the history of religious groups to the committee and Robert Prongay contributed a valuable knowledge of the local business community and of the photographic art. Dr. Edwin L. Stockton, Jr., ably represented the Wachovia Historical Society. Mrs. Ruth Mills Kipp, bicentennial coordinator for the city/county commission, provided invaluable assistance. Dr. Larry Tise, then area coordinator for the state bicentennial program and now director of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, provided able assistance and encouragement.

The publications committee was indeed fortunate when The University of North Carolina Press agreed to publish the revised history. Then came assurances of financial support as the Wachovia Historical Society and the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners agreed to advance the funds necessary for publication. Stuart T. Wright was employed as primary author and compiler for the new material.

Much of the material from the 1949 volume has been integrated into the revised version. Dr. Adelaide Fries was a master of the historians craft and it was decided that much of what she had written and edited could not be surpassed. Stuart Wright was able in many areas to provide coverage for additional topics, new factual or interpretative information not available to Dr. Fries and her other committee and, on occasion, to insert material from one of her other publications or those of other authors.

The cooperative nature of local history meant that many people were called on to provide information or to write sections of the manuscript. All those who were approached responded graciously but special notes of appreciation are due Russell Brantley for the material on Wake Forest University and Roger Rollman for the material on the North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forests Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Francis Atkins and Mrs. Louise S. Hamilton deserve particular appreciation for their labors in identifying leaders and providing information about the black community in Forsyth County. Mrs. Hamilton contributed most of the material for the section on the black community in . Miss Charlotte Pepper of Salem College and John Woodard of Wake Forest University graciously provided materials relating to the history of churches in the county. Mrs. Ruth Mills Kipp, bicentennial coordinator, not only provided information relating to some of the smaller settlements in the county but has also provided unfailing support and assistance. Portions of the section on Joseph Winston appeared earlier in an article by J. Edwin Hendricks in the Summer 1968 North Carolina Historical Review.

Monumental tasks were performed willingly and expertly by Stephen J. Bennett, director of the Forsyth County Information Office, and Nancy Wolfe, director of the Office of Public Relations for Winston-Salem, who compiled the sections in which deal with their respective governmental agencies and the wide range of their operations. The introductory and concluding passages of the section on county government were written by Nicholas Meiszer, Forsyth County manager. Mr. Meiszer deserves a special note of gratitude also for his support of the county history project from its inception.

Frank Jones, late photographer for the Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel, had agreed to serve as photographic editor of the book and to make available his collection of historical and recent photographs. After his death his executor Oscar Hege and the directors of the Wachovia Historical Society, repository for the collection, generously agreed to facilitate the use of the photographs. Robert Prongay of Piedmont Engraving and Studio One assisted in selecting representative photographs and provided the necessary prints for publication. Wake Forest University provided generous assistance to both Stuart Wright and me as a part of its contribution to the local bicentennial effort.